Not just an empty vessel

by celtaconfessions

Pull up a chair. Make yourself at home. Whatcha like? Cuppa? Coke? Glass of wine?

Copyright 2012 Chiew Pang

Blame it on Freya, who told me it was unfair of me to mention criticisms of others but not of myself; blame it on Barry for encouraging me to exorcise the demons. I’ve been stuck on Day Four as though I were trapped in a warped time machine, and going off on tangents like an out-of-control spinning top… (Freya, cue: smile!)

OK, so you think my ranting and raving has been totally over-the-top, that I have no evidence, that I’ve been somewhat unprofessional… is that right? OTT, debatable. Evidence, I have… some. Professionalism? Yea, talk to me about that. Anyway, let’s take a look at this CELTA course from the top down, or is it bottom-up? Let’s roll up our sleeves, push up our glasses, and crack on!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’d do the course again, no doubt about that. I enjoyed it for many reasons – No8Do Seville, the ambience, the unfinished (and the non-existent) conversations, the shattered fantasies and the grim reality, the lost, dreary looks, the bonding, the tension, the laughter, the tears, the love, the fear, and a multitude of various other human feelings; yes, I’d do it again. So, why all the ranting? Because I believe in continuing professional development and that applies not only to myself but to everything else above, including, naturally, CELTA.

I know I’m a nonentity, but I’ve lately got into the habit of talking to the screen as no-one else would talk to me, so, here goes…

I’d actually planned to do this at the end; it would have made more sense after I’ve had the chance to review everything, but the demons saga has pushed everything out-of-sync, and I just felt I had to take it a step further. Perhaps I’ll do another review right at the end.

What would you do if you were to give this lesson again? We were constantly asked. I ask: what would you do if you had a chance to change the course?

Primordial

Have you seen the stats? No, I won’t give the link again. Go to my last post and look for it. Doesn’t something stick out a mile from it? Does it look “normal”, does it look “professional” even? The very first thing that I’d change would be to have two grades: PASS and FAIL. That would, at a single stroke, remove tremendous pressure from trainers and trainees alike.

No matter how much is claimed about trainers being trained and standardised, they are humans, not robots. Humans have feelings. Humans err. Humans get tired. Humans have good and bad days. Having just a pass and a fail grade minimises the effects of these “defects”.

Streamline

The second thing I would do is to streamline the whole assessment and evaluation process; I’d cut the number of components by at least half. I’ve mentioned before in one of my older posts that I had no idea how trainers are able to do so many things and to evaluate on so many aspects… except by not doing it to the best of their ability. It’s simply c-r-a-z-e-e.

The check list should be reduced to just a few essential items. A box could be used to add additional aspects that trainers see fit to mention. Not once was a box marked N/A (not applicable) when clearly, there were circumstances when it would be so. An example would be “organising the classroom”. Imagine a scene where each trainee gets to the front and start rearranging the classroom! Multiply that by the number of teachers, lessons, days and soon, you’ll end up with no students.

Feedback

Readers of my other blog know that I regularly ask for students’ feedback, often after every lesson. I don’t know if the “guinea pigs” of CELTA courses give feedback. I suspect they do, but only once for each teacher, no doubt. Whether they do or not, trainees themselves do not get to see it. I’d change that. First, I think a feedback after each class would be useful. They could have a 20-minute feedback just before the tutor’s, or they could do it online and could also remain anonymous. Whichever way, trainees ought to be party to it.

Input sessions

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels these need to be overhauled. Are they the same for all centres? I have no idea. To go into detail, I’d need to look into my notes and recordings, something I’m not prepared to do at this stage. I will comment on them as I review the day-by-day events. However, a couple of them springs to mind.

We had, if I remember correctly, three phonology sessions. Don’t get me wrong; I dig phonology and I’m an Underhill fan, so in a way, the sessions weren’t of much benefit to me, but that isn’t the reason why I think, quite frankly, they should be either scrapped or reduced to one session. My general view of the trainees is that they needed more a grammar than a pronunciation lesson. They can get by without knowing the phonetic script, but can they get by without knowing grammar? I’ve seen them breaking down in class because the lesson aim was beyond them. It’s not pleasant to watch that; one feels so helpless, not being allowed to help a fellow trainee.

The other was the Young Learners session. It was fun; it was enjoyable, but did we need it? I suppose now that the “A” in CELTA no longer stands for adult, it’s justified? Or perhaps it acts as a filler, happening towards the end when some have actually finished all their TPs. If we have the YLE, why not one on business? Or 1-2-1? Or telephone/online lessons?

My input suggestions

In methodology, we had TBL, DI, and skills. I would definitely include Teaching Unplugged. Maybe even a 30-minute TP. Imagine there’s a power cut. No photocopier, no printer, no internet, no IWB, no PC, hell, not even lights. No tools, no paper. Get up there. Give your lesson.

This is real life. This is survival.

Technology. It cannot be assumed that everyone has sufficient knowledge of this. Some of us may take tools such as PowerPoint and media players for granted, but there are others who struggle with the most basic of techy stuff.

CPD. I’m surprised this wasn’t included. Half of the trainees, if not more, were probably not even aware of what it stands for. I’d expected at least one session of this because I thought they would be wanting to sell their other courses, but I was mistaken. This is ESSENTIAL. What forms of CPD are there? Why is it important? How to use social media for CPD, etc. Tons of stuff to talk about.

These are some suggestions which came to mind at the time of writing. I’m sure there are more, and I may mention them in future posts. What do you feel about them? Do you agree/disagree? Were you a trainee once? What would you do to improve the course? Are you a trainer? Are you happy with the current programme?

30 Comments to “Not just an empty vessel”

Hello, everyone! I enjoyed reading your comments, a lot of useful, inside, firsthand information. I did a CELTA in Barcelona, last month and I am very disappointed with my final grade. I’ve got a ‘PASS’ – so I should be happy, some may think. But I’m not. It wasn’t fair. The first tutor of my group of six wanted to put me in my place for not being a native speaker (British ideally!). On the other hand, I’ve really fought for a higher grade and I’ve put 100% interest and passion, into this course, because I love English and grammar. Paradoxically, in the end, they’ve thrown me in the same boat with those who were dragged towards the ‘finish line’. I’ve had my colleagues’ support, because in such an intensive month together, you get to know each other and it becomes obvious where someone stands in the group. This is why, I was not surpised to hear about everyone who’s gotten a ‘Pass B’, you could already tell. During the course you could distinguish between at least two categories of students: ‘good’ and ‘not so good’. Consequently, for the final grades, there was neither a ‘Pass A’ nor a ‘Fail’. Getting back to my bad experience with CELTA, I have filled in the Appeal Form, then sent it to the centre, as Cambridge procedure requires. The school then filled in their part and sent it off to Cambridge. I’ve asked for a copy of the final form of my appeal, twice, and they refused to give it to me, saying that Cambridge will contact me and probably give it to me later. I don’t think this is fair, either. I’m paying another 150 pounds, asking for a second, hopefully fair, re-evaluation and I cannot see my appeal, which was subsequently edited by the centre. Absolutly no transparency! Also, I’ve been searching for statistics about the Cambridge Appeals’ success rate, nothing! I cannot wait to see their decision, although I have my doubts about their impartiality… Also, they cannot see me teaching – another missing element really needed to support a higher grade.

Lynn,
If you can get some sort of proof, eg a witness, it may help support your case. Cambridge will always protect their own first. It also depends on what you mean by “make fun”. Were they laughing at you? Or did you misunderstand them? Could they perhaps just trying to help you improve?

Thanks for the tips Chiew!
Tomorrow I have my first CELTA class and, to tell you the truth, I’m a bit nervous. I think that my main concern is time: I don’t live near the IH centre (I have to commute for one hour and a half).
I’ve read Harmer’s book and a few chapters from Scrivener’s book, but I haven’t taken down notes now I know that I should have summarized some chapters!

Now I’ve got a doubt: does CELTA *really* improve your chances of finding a job? I’ve read that CELTA opens up many doors that would’ve remained locked if it weren’t for the course. Is that so? Is there any significant difference if you haven’t done CELTA? Is the topic of $alaries and teachers’ rights covered in the course?

You’ll be fine, I’m sure. It’s not so much that you should have done summaries, but more that you ought to have written down the page numbers which contain sentences you may be able to cite/quote.

CELTA has a high reputation in many parts of the world, so, yes, it would improve your chances. Salary-wise, I don’t think it’ll make any difference. Towards the end of my course, there was an input session about work, so, you should have something similar, I would think. If you have any questions now, write them somewhere because come the time you may not remember!

Hello Chiew! I want to thank you for sharing all your experiences with us!
Next Monday I’m starting the CELTA course in Argentina. I have to admit that I’ve read quite a lot on the Internet about the course, but I think that this blog is one of the few places that gives an honest insight
into what to expect from the course.
Is there any tip that you could give and that you haven’t covered in any post yet?

Hi Alejandro,
I’m glad you’ve found this blog useful and thanks for commenting. It’s always nice to get some feedback. Any tips? I think I’ve covered most of the important ones. It’s good to know what to expect because otherwise, it can get rather overwhelming. I hope you’ve managed to get some reading done and some notes taken, ready for the assignments. That would take a lot of the pressure off. Remember to start profiling the students from the very beginning. It’s not easy to fail the course – they want to maintain their pass rates. Just follow the advice of the trainers. The first 10 days are going to be the toughest. Be organised. You’ll get a lot of handouts. Write dates, etc on them and file them. Don’t say tomorrow I’ll do it because they’ll get all mixed up and you won’t be able to find what you’re looking for later. Take notes. Be sure to write dates and other important reference points. Most important, enjoy the company! Your fellow trainees will be the best part of the course! Don’t push yourself too hard. Pace yourself. Any problems you have during the course, post them here and I’ll help to the best of my ability. Oh, cite your sources from day one on your handouts, your visuals. Good luck!

Below are some questions I’d love to hear your views on. Basically, I’d be really interested to know what criteria you used to select this as a course. I’m keen to understand the expectation gap and to see if this explains why some people react to the CELTA experience in a similar way. I’ve been wondering about this for a few years now, and you seem to be in a mood to provide some feedback ‘unplugged’.

Why did you choose to do CELTA? When you researched it, did you agree with the teaching methodologies they use? How did they compare to other qualifications that you could have taken? Were you more interested in them than the ones offered in by other qualifications? Did you feel they were more appropriate?

Did you look through the criteria against which you would be evaluated before you started the course? What did you make of them then?

I’m also interested to know who and where it is that you teach currently: Do you teach within a system or are you independent? Groups, 121 or a mix? What are you learners’ goals? Are you teaching any individuals who are studying for exams?

Last question, promise: Have you ever red John Fanselow’s book, Breaking Rules? I think you may really enjoy it. I’m sure it’s not too late to ask Santa!!

Thanks for reading and commenting, Carolyn.
That’s a lot of questions! 😉

Criteria: reputation, basically. It’s not like buying a product where you can test it first or see it in action in a demo… And like I said time and time again, I enjoyed the course. And I would do it again. And I would recommend it. But, I believe it can and should be improved upon, that it should bring itself up to date. This post was to give my opinions and suggestions and to watch my readers react, to see if anyone agrees with me…

Their teaching methodologies? To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve read bits and pieces here and there, but no in-depth analysis. This blog, I was hoping, will fill that gap or at least, attempt to! (Though I tend to digress a lot) 😉 I liked some of the input sessions, and I thought the tutors were good, but if trainees expect the course to be a how-to-teach type is likely be disappointed.

Did I look at the evaluation criteria? Yes, I did. If you look at my pre-course posts, you’ll see analysis and mind maps of the syllabus, etc, but all those check boxes in each lesson feedback and the final grading still caught me by surprise. Pre-course, they looked fine (they were not as detailed). Post course, after seeing the reality, no. Impossible for the trainers was my reaction, but who am I to judge? In spite of that, I have an opinion, and I felt I had the right to suggest improvements, just as I have the right to suggest improvements to WordPress, to iPad, or whatever. The fact that no-one pays attention to them is neither here nor there.

Where do I teach? In Spain. Currently, more independent than within a system – I always get into trouble in systems where they don’t like people who think too much 😉 You can read about my some of my classes here. I also teach 1-2-1 with business clients, f2f and by telephone. Learners’ goals: basically to be more fluent, as most are, deep down. Exams? I currently teach FCE and CAE groups, reflected upon regularly at the previous link.

Fanselow, what a character John is! No, I haven’t read the book. I attended a webinar of his last year, and I was going to take his course in iTDi a month or so back, but circumstances prevented me from doing it.

Phew, that was even more difficult than the CELTA interview! Did I pass?

“the habit of talking to the screen as no-one else would talk to me, so, here goes…”

This line alone talks by itself.
In any educational context where dialogues do not occur is one-way road and unlikely to achieve most of its potential.

A room with a teacher and students in it in any educational setting has a huge potential to be successfull only if let all the parts to be part of it, none of the students are considered empty to vessels to fill in, and be expected to replicate what they had been taught in exactly the same manner.

That has been the mainly discussion over and over again about higher education here in Brazil. Everyone in or out of university will argue that teachers come out of university without knowing how to deal with real classroom demmands, no matter how great grades they got in university. Then, those new teachers get really frustrated because the system didn’t prepare them well. And can’t… you know why? too much info, too much talk, but no praxis and continuing development after the theoretical phase. The point of continuing development is to have a much more competent partner who will lead you to his level of knowlege (not theoretical knowledge, I can get from books) and practice. But above all I believe that it is about giving the support until you get there – isn’t that called mentoring?! Ok, if it is, I believe we need a mentor system after graduation in whatever or taking training wherever. Without the mentoring process, we end up just getting certificates if we do the right thing, the thing expected.

Just for the record, I am not saying that training are not useful. On the other hand, they are. But It can not accomplish much without considering the students own knowledge and experiences and keeping the mentoring through the practicing in real contexts until the students becomes like the master. 😉

Thanks for your comment, Rose. Yes, dialogue is so important at all levels. Misunderstandings occur without dialogue. Breakups, wars… they occur when there’s a breakdown in communication. Sometimes, the wrong words can cause confusion, can cause upsets, can create havoc. Dialogue with patience. Direction. Motivation. A wish to work together to reach a common goal. Thanks once again.

You said it all once more Chiew. When we are willing to work together to reach a common goal with patience, direction and motivation through dialogue, it will be a winning-winning situation imo for sure.

2/ A CELTA course is not the same everywhere – centres have to follow the syllabus but sessions, handouts, method of input will be very different depending on the centre and course designer (although there are tutors who will always attempt to replicate the one course they feel comfortable with).

3/ Statistics don’t mean much – e.g. we had no fail candidates in 2011 but Cambridge reports my centre results and another centre up in the North of Greece; what else? Oh, yes: Wanna get an A? Go to Japan 🙂

4/ Using checklists is useful (and sometimes N/A is appropriate), but there are key criteria which are required for a PASS or otherwise; these are outlined to tutors very explicitly in the Administration Handbook and checked pretty thorought by visiting assessors, so, even if a tutor gets it wrong, the assessor may set the tutor back on track

5/ Like all systems, this has its limitations: the assessor views only four portfolios per course, so if yours wasn’t included (and you will know if you were or weren’t included on the basis of whether the external assessor observed your final lesson)

6/ There are good and not so good tutors and assessors around – get this: once you are on either list, it’s pretty difficult to get kicked out. Also, it’s quite easy to get jobs, especially in the CELTA factories of the ‘popular destinations’ …..

7/ Many candidates confuse “learner-centred” with “my learners are my top priority”

8/ Another often confused terms is “contextualization” – this is perhaps even more difficult to grasp and plagues even my DELTA candidates

9/ You cannot be vindicated in any way, unless someone saw your lessons and has access to your plans – on another level, why would a CELTA tutor sit down and analyse your blog posts for free when this is what they do for a living? (sounds pretty cold, I know, but that’s how most – not all – trainers would respond)

10/ On the contrary, you could be seen to be badmouthing a centre or a particular colleague (not very difficult to find out who it is, you know….) and incur legal action for slander.

10/ If you believe you were assessed unfairly, the best possible tactic is to start a complaints procedure with Cambridge ESOL. Request that your results be reviewed – but do it in a cool, dispassionate way; this blog is not the right way. The process may take some time, but I consider it to be the best possible option

11/ Go get drunk and tell your friends. Challenging your PLN by accusing them of lurking is not going to endear you to anyone either (at least not people who might have something useful to write). Your ‘gauntlet’ gambit is not what made me write this response; I had promised I would – the ‘gauntlet’ gambit almost made me change me mind.

12/ Every year, 12,000 candidates are processed through the CELTA factories (I pride myself of not running an assembly-line centre). Not everyone will obviously be happy with their results – all candidates I have met so far think they deserved a higher grade than what was awarded them – apart from those who got an A (who, mostly, didn’t think they were good enough for it; does this say anything about them? I think it does)

13/ Most issues such as yours come from very/highly experienced teachers who take the CELTA thinking ‘it’s going to be a breeze” (words right out of the mouth of one of my most recent candidates) and finding out it wasn’t. If you were experienced to begin with, then the CELTA was not the right course for you and you should not have done it – you should have gone for the DELTA instead – so why are you blaming a pre-service training course for not being right for you?

14/ Your suggestions suggest your level of experience (Point No 13) and are part of all our courses – but doesn’t that prove point No 13 anyway?

I’ll try to address your “the trouble is…” point by point.
1. Don’t I know that! It’s their problem not mine if they don’t want to know what’s happening in the real world. I heard that interview – yes we all know that issue, but if this point is addressing to my suggestion of including technology in the input sessions, I’m talking about the very basics, I’m talking about audioviisual aids, such as creating PowerPoint, finding and inserting images (respecting copyright), using mp3s (possibly, also basic usage of Audacity), media players, using videos offline (can’t always depend on a decent Internet connection), etc. I’m not talking about Wikis, not even Wordle (though this was mentioned in some input sessions, I wonder how many trainees knew what it was). Basics to a lot of us, but not so to many newbies, and I’m talking about young people here!

2. Thanks for clearing this doubt. I had the suspicion it was the case, but wanted confirmation.

3. Stats don’t mean much… and they do. They showed up something striking. What’s the argument against a pass/fail system instead of A/B/Pass/Fail? Motivation? They’re all mostly motivated already. It doesn’t serve much purpose, in my humble opinion.

4. I never said checklists aren’t useful, quite the contrary. What I’m saying is there are too many! Maybe this depends on each centre, too. I’m glad to hear N/A is appropriate, so it beats me as to why I never saw a single one.

5. Of course it has its limitations, and they’re accepted. My argument is that the more streamlined and transparent a system is, the less prone to errors it will be.

6. I think we all know that.

7. So, are you saying I’ve got it all wrong? Of course, I meant it lightly when I said that students are my priority. If not following a written plan possibly opens up a wider path to learning, I’ll say sod it to the plan. In real life, it goes without saying, but even in the confines of a CELTA course, it should be valued rather than put down.

8. Not sure which point this is referring to.

9. Of course not, and I know that. Did I say I expected my tutor to analyse my blog posts? If I gave that impression, I’m sorry. I’m ranting and raving to whoever wants to read; I’m giving my side of the story, my angle. And some people do. I read my students’ feedback in my own unpaid time. I create Wikis in my own time. I get paid for an hour and I put in 10. But I don’t expect others to do the same.

10. Please don’t use such a big word on a little punk like me. It’s easy to hide (or cower) behind “slander”. If I buy an iPod, and the battery lasts for 3 hours, I’ll say ‘What a load of rubbish’. I didn’t intend to badmouth anybody; in fact, I’ve said good things, but it was just that one thing I had my doubts about, and I thought the world is free enough for me to express it.

I have no intention to appeal – I know how these things work. And, it’s not that important. What is important, for me, is to analyse the situation and to provide my angle. There was a reason for my not wanting to talk about it in the first place, but when I started, there was no turning back. So, in view of that, this blog is the perfect place.

11. I don’t get drunk because I don’t drink. The only friends I have who would listen would be reading. I wasn’t accusing anyone of lurking – it’s everyone’s right. The gauntlet was thrown tongue-in-cheek. I was interested to hear the opinions of others, that was all.

12. See point 3. I know the numbers. This was partly the reason I’ve said many times I don’t envy the trainers’ tasks. Mine had 18 of us. We finished on a Friday, on the following Monday, a new batch started. Multiply that by 12. or 11 or whatever. Like I said humans are not robots. You use the term ‘assembly-line’. Back to point no. 5.

13. I don’t consider myself ‘very highly experienced’ nor did I for once think ‘it was going to be a breeze’. Quite the contrary. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I enjoyed the course; I’d do it again. I never said it wasn’t the ‘right’ course for me; I never ‘blamed’ the course for anything (unless it’s for falling in love ;)). You’ve got it all wrong there, Marisa. I was giving my very personal viewpoint, criticisms which I’d hoped were constructive, and since criticisms are always easy to churn out, I backed them up with my own suggestions for improvements. And I’m sorry they were not taken for what they were worth.

14. I don’t understand this. My suggestions are “part of all our courses”? First, I wasn’t sure if all centres follow the same schedule – and you very kindly answered that one, although I don’t know to what extent they differ. Second, my suggestions were based, as they can only be, on the centre where I had the training. And definitely, none of my suggestions were part of the course or I wouldn’t have mentioned them!

Gosh, I think I should have written this reply as another blog post. No hard feelings, I hope, Marisa. We’ll talk about this one day over lunch, perhaps?

I do hope we get to meet soon! You are one of the people in my PLN I have never met face-to-face.

Sorry if I got some things wrong about your intentions – my aim was not to ‘put you in your place’ at all.

Why should I have hard feelings? My only concern was that you may be working yourself up all on your own – thought I’d give you a hand 😀 …..

No, seriously, now…

The reason people like myself generally don’t respond to posts such as yours is that they can end up being taken down for no reason at all.

So I shall retire rather hastily and try not to respond any more – I really don’t want to go on arguing – which I wasn’t.

A general discussion about the ways of running or improving CELTA courses in general is a good thing to have but as our timetable may hint, your ideas may not be entirely novel; they have been around in several centres for quite a while now.

But this needs to be also done at some forum someplace else, rather than me and you here or another blog for things to truly change worldwide in a significant way I think.